Roof construction for furnaces.



F. ORTH. ROOF CONSTRUCTION FOR FURNACES.

APPLICATION FILED APR. I8. I916.

1,265A93 Patented May 7, 1918.

2 SHEETSSHEET I.

F. ORTH.

ROOF CONSTRUCTION FOR FURNACES.

APPLICATION FILED APR 18. I916.

WITNESS.

Patented May 7,1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- jun'zz 0 2%,,

FRANK ORTH, or INnIArvA HARBOR, INDIANA.

ROOF CONSTRUCTION FOR FURNACES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May a, rare.

Application filed April 18, 1916. Serial No. 91,876.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK ORTH, a c1t1- zen of the-United States,residing at Indiana Harbor, county of Lake, and State of Indiana, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Roof Constructions forFurnaces, of which the-following is a speclfication.

The present invention has to do with improvements in roof constructionsfor furnaces and also. the method of making repairs in the same. Thefeatures of the invention are very well adapted for use in connectionwith open hearth steel furnaces, although it will presently appear thatsaid features are in no wise limited to this particular class ofservice.

In open hearth furnace practice it is found that generally the roof willburn away or become dangerously thin in certain portions sooner than inother portions, so that it becomes desirable to be able to renew thoseportions which burn most rapidly. Also it 1s well understood that 'inorder for an arch roof to be self-sustainin with all portions of theroof material under compression, it is necessary for the so-called lineof thrust to remain within the body of the roof material at all pointsthroughout the arch.

Ordinarily the rear portion of the roof will burn away more rapidly thanthe front portion, or at any rate those portions of the roof opposite tothe doors are generally found to burn away most rapidly.

In Letters Patent of the United States, No. 1,095,920, issued to me May5, 1914;, for improvements in arch construction for furnaces, and alsoin my Letters Patent of the .United States, No. 880,910, issued to meMarch 3, 1908, I have discloseda type of roof construction in whichthere are provided transversely extending thrust ribs, the

end portions of which are suitably support-' ed against the spreading,and between which ribs are placed the arch sections of roof. In theconstruction shown in the said Letters Patent, No. 1,095,920, thetransverse ribs have their upper faces beveled, so that a wedge-shapedspace is provided between the upper portions of each pair of adjacentribs. There are also disclosed in that Letters Patent certainreplacement blocks of wedgeshaped or beveled formation adapted to beseated down between and to be supported by the said upper portions ofadjacent ribs, the

said replacement blocks havin their end faces beveled to correspond witthe beveling on the upper portions of the ribs.

.When the replacement blocks are set between the beveled upper portionsof the ribs disclosed in the said Letters Patent, No.

1,095,920, a wedging action occurs by reason of which wedging actionthere is tendency to displace the ribs laterally, thereby throwing themout of line. Consequently, when it is desired to effect a repair in aroof, by the use of wedge-shaped blocks seating down and resting solelyupon the beveled faces of the upper portions of the ribs, such repairshould be made in alternate sections of roof, leaving the intermediateroof sections undisturbed until the said alternate sections have beenrepaired, after which the intermediate roof sections may be knocked outand repaired. In this way the tendency toward the lateral displacementof the ribs may be reduced to a minimum, and the danger of cumulation ofdisplacement at one end of the furnace may be largely obviated.

.Nevertheless, when using that type of rib be entirely eliminated.

Furthermore, where the repair blocks are supported solely by theaforementioned wedging action, they will necessarily seat down betweenthe ribs low enough to bearfirmly against the beveled portions of theadjacent rlbs, and therefore the exact position which they will assumenecessarily dc pends upon the distance between the. beveled upperportions. If the ribs are not all consecutively equi-distant from eachother. or if the ribs do not lie absolutely parallel, or if the repairblocks are not all of uniform dimensions, some of the repair blocks willseat down lower than others, so that an irregular repair patch will bethe result. Not only will this produce a patch which is unsightly inappearance, but it will produce the still greater disadvantage that thelower ortions of some of the repair blocks will e much more exposed tothe burning action than the other repair blocks, so that the patch willnot be as durable andsatisfactory as would otherwise be the case.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a ribconstruction of such form that the repair blocks mav be sun- 5 sult inthe elimination of the disadvantageous side thrust on the ribs, but itwill also r$ult in uniformly supporting the repair blocks, so that thepatch will be uniform and regular, the lower portions of all of therepair blocks of each patch coming together in a smooth unbrokensurface. This will also result in the advantage that in case the ribsare not all uniformly spaced, or in case they are not absolutelyparallel to each other, or in 'casetherepair' blocks are not of uniformsize, still a smooth regular patch may be produced. Consequently, itwill not be necessary when practising this feature of the invention tomake use of the same amount of skill in the labor as would otherwise benecessary for the production of a satisfactory patch.

Another feature of the invention has to do with the method of patchingthe roof. This method consists in the removal of selected burnt sectionsof roof and the substitution of repair blocks in said sections. Moreparticularly this feature of the invention consists in the removal ofadjacent burnt sections of roof and the substitution of the repairblocks in said sections.

Frequently, some portions of a rib will be so burned away or reduced indepth as to make it desirable to repair the same by substituting blocksof greater depth in such ortions of the ribs. Another feature of theinvention has to do with the proportioning of the original blocks insuch size that they may be substituted into those portions of the ribswhich it is desired to repair. This will result in an economy ofmaterial and consequently in an'econom'y in the cost of making therepairs.

Other objects and uses of the invention will appear from a detaileddescription of the same, which consists in the features of constructionand combinations of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

Referring to the drawings:

Figure 1 shows a front elevation of an open hearth furnace to which someof the features of the present invention have been applied, a portion ofthe roof structure being broken away and the roof at this point beingshown in section'; 0

- Fig. 2 shows a cross-section on enlarged scale, taken on the line 2--2of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 3 shows a plan view of, a section of roof having applied theretothe: features of the present invention, and it shows by means of dottedlines a section of roof wherein it is desired to effect a repair, andwherein the repairs have been made by the substitution of the repairblocks;

Fig, 4 shows a longitudinal section, taken on the line 4-4 of'Fig. 3,looking in the direction of the arrows; and

Fig. 5 shows in detaiLa modified form of rib and repair block embodyingcertain of the features of the present invention.

Referring to the several figures, the roof is provided with a pluralityof transversely extending arched ribs 6, the end portions of which aresupported by buck stays 7, tie rods 8, channels 9, etc., in the mannerset forth in the aforementioned Letters Patent of the United States. Anyother suitable means for supporting the end portions of the ribs-may beadopted without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

Referring particularly to Figs. 3 and 4, the intermediate roof sections10 are set in between the lower portions ofthe ribs and are supported bythem. These intermediate roof sections set between the lower portions ofthe ribs, engagin the side faces of the blocks 11, to which blocks theymay be cemented if desired. These original roof sections comprise theindividual blocks 11, which, when new, form the lower surface of theroof at'the point shown by the dotted line 12 of Fig. 4, or the fullline 12 of Fig. 2. After a perlod of operation the roof will have burnedaway on a somewhat irregular surface to the line 13 of Fig. 4. Theextent of. this burning will be irregular in different portions of theroof, and as shown by the dotted line in Fig. 2 will generally begreater at the back side 14 of the roof than at its front side 15.

After the roof or any portion of the same has become so thin as to makeit desirable to effect a repair, the burnt blocks 11 will be removed andthe repair blocks substituted. In Fig, 3 I have shown by the dottedlines 16 a section or portion of roof within which it is desired to-makea patch. This section of roof' comprises portions of roof lying withinthe spans A, B and C, the patch illustrated not extending into the spansD and E.

In order to place the patch in the burnt section of each span, the burntblocks 11 are moved from the desired section and the repair blocks 17are substituted. As shown in the several figures, each of the ribs isprovided on each side with a transverse shoulder 18, said shoulderextending lengthwise of the rib, preferably at a point some distancebelow its upper edge 19. The upper portion 20 of the rib may bebeveledor tapered according to the disclosure of Figs.

illustrated said supports take the form of the longitudinal shoulders18. Each of the re pair blocks 17 is provided with a lug or lip 21adapted to seat squarely onto'the shoulder shall be supported by theshoulders or other supporting means.

Frequently, the repair blocks will be of somewhat larger size than theoriginal roof blocks, although manifestly there is no necessity forusing such a relationship. However, in the several figures I have shownan arrangement in which there are originall three lines of originalblocks between eac pair ofribs, and in which the repair blocks are ofsuch size that two of them will fully occupy the space between the ribswhen the repair is made.

It will also be observed from examination particularly of Fig. 4 thateach of the original blocks 11 is of the same width as the width of theribs. There is no necessity that this ratio or relationship should bemaintained, but when .it is adopted the repair blocks may beconveniently built into new ribs or patches of ribs when desired Withoutchanging the size of the blocks so substituted.

adopted and the patches may In proceeding to efl'ect the repair, thesection of roof wherein the patch is to be made is first selected. Ifthe ribs and repair blocks embodying the features herein disclosed areto be used, all of the roof sections may be removed from the portionofroof wherein the patch is to be made before commencing thesubstitution of the repair blocks. In this case several adjacent orconsecutive spans may be operated upon simultaneously, and in Fig. 3 Ihave shown patches as having been simultaneously inserted in the spansA, B and C. That is to say, the patches in all of said spans may be madeat the same time and not alternately. On the other hand, if desired, thealternate patching may be e inserted first in the alternate spans andafterward in the intermediate spans. Therefore, as far as the method ofrepair is concerned, I contemplate the use broadly of the method whichconsists in first removing the desired portions of roof and thereafterinserting the patches.

Examination articularly of Fig. 4 will show that in t e arrangementillustrated just described so as to allow a slight clear with the sidethrust members, of a series of ance between the side faces of thereplacement blocks and the ribs when the blocks are first inserted, thesaid blocks will be enabled to expand the necessary amount as theirtemperature rises without bringing 35 inkto play an undesirable sidethrust on the r1 s.

I claim:

1. In a heating furnace, the combination transverse ribs spanning thewidth of the furnace and having their ends resting against the thrustmembers and supported thereby, the ribs arching over the body of thefurnace, each rib being provided with a longitudinal horizontal shoulderon each side and near its upper portion, the side faces of the ribsbelow said shoulders being vertical, and a series of replacement blocksbetween consecutive ribs and supported thereby, each replacement blockbeing provided in its upper portion with a horizontal shoulder adaptedto seat directly on the rib shoulder and be fully supported thereby, andthe side face of the block below said shoulder being horizontal andresting squarely on the shoulder of the rib, substantially as and forthe purpose specified.

2. In a heating furnace, the combination with the side thrust members,of a series of arched transverse ribs spanning the width of the furnaceand having their ends resting against the thrust members and supportedthereby, the facing sides of adjoining ribs being provided withlongitudinal horizontal shoulders in their upper portions, the sidefaces of the ribs below said shoulders being vertical, and a series ofreplacement blocks between said ribs, each replacement block having inits upper portion a ing provided along its upper side face with ahorizontal shoulder, and the side face beto thereby eliminate anytendency toward low said shoulder being vertical, of a series creationof side thrust on the ribs by the 10 of replacement blocks between apair of presence of the blocks, substantially as desaid ribs andsupported thereby, each of scribed.

said blocks having in its upper portion a FRANK ORTH. I horizontalshoulder adapted to rest squarely Witnesses: on the rib shoulder, andthe lower portion THoMAs A. BANNING, Jr.,

of the side face of the block being vertical. FRsNcEs M. Fnoscu.

